What Is Money Laundering?

Money laundering is the process of making illegally acquired (i.e. “dirty” money) appear legal (i.e. “clean”). It is not confined to casinos: there are multiple methods of money laundering. Casino money laundering is simply one of them. For example, if you have money you received from a bribe, you can get your cash illegally converted into casino chips for a fee by a junket. This is the placement stage. You can then take these chips to a casino to gamble with or simply cash in. This way, no-one will know the money you have if from a bribe – it will look like you won it fair and square. Another way is to simply buy a whole lot of casino chips at the casino with a suitcase of cash. However, this will probably look highly suspicious. If you do gamble with the chips this is called gambling money laundering – a way to introduce some risk and a fun time in your casino money laundering process, and also make it look less suspicious.

How Does It Work?

Casinos tend to have very high level security systems. However, they don’t actually track how much people win at the tables – so you can cash in chips you never even used to gamble without arousing too much suspicion. Of course you can’t simply walk from the door to the cashier – it needs to seem as if you have played with the chips rather than using the place as a money laundering casino. So in most casinos, it is probably necessary to play at least a little for your gambling money laundering to succeed.

Macau – Casino Capital Of The World

This article may have made the process of money laundering appear ridiculously easy. It is not, and of course it is different all over the world. But there is one place all the shady high flyers go to participate in gambling money laundering or casino money laundering. The casino capital of the world is actually Macau in China, not Las Vegas. And Hong Kong is full of compliant banks and intermediaries willing to move your money around without asking too many questions – at a cost of course. For this reason, Macau is also the money laundering casino capital of the world.

Stopping The Laundry

In Canada and many other countries, money laundering is a criminal offence. Casinos are closely regulated with regards to money laundering. In countries such as these, where gambling is so highly regulated, is probably a bad idea, as you will get caught. Even every Canadian online casino is regulated against money laundering. No money laundering casinos here! Money laundering is one of the shadiest ways to use a casino there is. And its harder to catch, as there isn’t necessarily any cheating going on. But all that’s necessary is a bit of vigilance: once casinos are strict about casino money laundering, the money launderers will go elsewhere.

The Clear Link Between Gambling and Crime

Perhaps it’s the flashing lights, the discordant cacophony of sounds, or the massive amounts of money that exchanges hands on a daily basis, but land-based casinos often bear the brunt of player frustration when it comes to losing. However, the perpetrators soon realise that crime and casinos don’t really mix and anyone who has ever felt tempted to take out their frustrations on fellow players or casino staff or property would be wise to remember that there is generally a decent sized team of burly men tasked with keeping the casino floor safe at all times.

EjWagner-CrimeHistorian.com takes a special interest in gambling and crime and anyone who shares this interest will find many fascinating true crime stories amongst our hallowed halls and gambling laws.